This invention relates to the dairy art and more particularly to a milking machine retractor.
Some modern dairies milk thousands of cows per day in buildings known as parlors. To handle such volume, it is advantageous to automate the process, so much of the tedious work once done by hand is now done by machines.
The milkers themselves (connected to each other in a group of four called a "claw") are still applied to the teats by hand, but they may be removed mechanically. Current devices for removing milkers from the cow are essentially flaccid tethers, which pull the milkers off the teats horizontally, hardly the optimum direction, and which may allow the milkers to strike the floor, where they may be contaminated with manure. Once that happens, of course, the milkers must be thoroughly cleaned before the next cow is milked. It would be better to have an automatic milker remover which would pull the milkers off downward, yet would prevent them from touching the parlor floor.